Tommy Roumanas, â€œHard Rainâ€

Songwriter and British Columbia native Tommy Roumanas speaks candidly about a sentiment that would resonate with many in the music biz: “Composing music for a living may not be the easiest or most stable job, but in my opinion, it’s the greatest job on earth. I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Drawing on a wide palette of influences — ranging from John Lennon to Tupac Shakur — Roumanas sets his stories to song. Among these song-stories is Roumanas’s single “Hard Rain.”

This particular track launches with a vitality normally reserved for a song’s chorus. Mention of cops arriving to one’s house after a “late-night bar fight” only reinforces a sense of vitality and action.

Apparently, there has been a lil’ too much activity in the speaker’s life, as he’s become overwhelmed by a pattern of hard-living and risky behavior: “I got to escape / ‘Cause there ain’t no way / I’m doin’ this everyday.”

Though the guitar solo — which launches at precisely 2:00 — is engaging in its own right, the more dramatic shift in tone occurs at 2:19. At this juncture, things suddenly become very soft-spoken, with a few piano keys making a delicate series of notes that belie the song’s ‘hard’ title.

But, sure enough, 20 seconds later things return to their original vigor. And a high degree of vigor there is! Roumanas’s athletic-sounding voice could apply well to most any form of pop or rock.